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We Aren’t Born Lions Or Zebras

Published on April 6, 2025

Can you teach a zebra to be a lion?

…Probably not anymore than you can teach a lion to be a zebra.

One thing is for sure though, we humans aren’t born lions or zebras.

We’re born as mostly blank slated creatures filled to brim with potential.

And sure, some of us might be born with more zebra tendencies and others with more lion characteristics.

But, we aren’t born lions or zebras.

The thing about potential is that it’s malleable. It can be worked, cultivated, and changed. We get to choose what kind of existence we want to lead.

If we tell ourselves we’re zebras—so shall it be. But, we can also train ourselves to be a lion and slowly our roar will come to be. If we’re not aware of our potential and how malleable it can actually be…

We’ll end up just becoming the creature society tells us to be…

And we might live an existence that feels out of place… not quite right… lackluster or uneventful… mismatched or frustrating… lonely and like our herd is forever missing…

…And what a tragedy that would be.

Ah, The Dream Of Opening A Coffee Shop…

Published on April 5, 2025

I went through a phase when I was seriously considering opening a coffee shop with my sister.

The only problem was… I didn’t have any real time to commit to being there. And opening a business that I couldn’t commit to felt foolish.

So we put it on the back burner.

Today, I was chatting on the phone with a few friends and we got to talking about retirement.

We all agreed that none of us wanted to do nothing… and in fact, we were all leaning more towards working for as long as we possibly could over retiring as soon as we possibly could…

And it brought back up this idea of the coffee shop.

I mentioned this idea of having a hybrid coffee shop/book shop, that had a quaint feel and community connection emphasis, that hosted readings, author talks, book clubs, open mics, art shows, and general IRL gatherings… as a way to spend the retirement days…

And it planted a seed that I think a lot of us are thinking about…

The takeaway for me is not to try and force something into existence until it’s in alignment with your lifestyle and time. And not only that… but bringing things into existence that you want to actually spend a chunk of your lifestyle and time engaging and participating in.

The thing is… the world doesn’t need another coffee shop.

But, it could definitely use more authentic, real, brick-and-mortar, connection places that serve great coffee, fresh ideas, and interesting conversation starters that attracts like-minded, curious, and maybe lonely or introverted people who have a hard time finding places to connect.

…There’s always room for more of what’s real.

Drip, Drip

Published on April 3, 2025

Point a power hose at a rock and probably the most that’ll happen is the rock will get wet—maybe even move if the rock is small enough.

Leave that same rock under a dripping waterfall however… and after a few years, erosion will wear away at its seemingly impenetrable surface. Leave it there long enough and you might even see it drip its way all the way through the rock to the other side.

This is a strategy that works.

Sure, there’s a time and a place to blast at a seemingly impenetrable challenge with full force… but, more often than not—full force blasts fatigue and burn out before any noticeable change ever takes effect.

Drip, drip, drip, however? …With unrelenting consistency and over a long enough period of time? And no rock stands a chance.

P.s. If you appreciate these daily drips in the form of 1-minute emails, you can support my future work by buying me a coffee here. Thanks :)

Learning To Un-Hide Your True Self

Published on April 3, 2025

What’s a moment from your childhood that taught you to hide your true self?

…For me?

I think back to times when I got my feelings hurt and started crying and was made fun of… which taught me to hide moments of embarrassment and pain…

Or times when I would eagerly answer a question in school or get a higher grade on a test or assignment than my friends and get made fun of for being a goodie goodie… which taught me to answer less questions and be less of that.

Or times when I was made fun of for being chubby… which taught me to hide behind certain kinds of clothes and styles and avoid certain situations—like going to the pool or beach—where my “true” self would be on full display.

Part of growing up and maturing is recognizing these learned behaviors for what they are… innocent behaviors adopted to please others… to fit in better… to avoid being made fun of and improve social status…

…And taking actions that’ll help us realign with our true self once again.

To unlearn the behavior of suppressing emotion and learning how to feel all of it once again.

To unlearn the behavior of holding ourselves back or watering ourselves down and learning how to push ourselves to unleash our full potential once again.

To unlearn the behavior of hiding behind clothes and feeling shame about our bodies and learning how to live with less self-consciousness and more joy once again.

…What are moments from your childhood and what behaviors is it time for you to unlearn?

Good Karma Is Always A Good Idea

Published on April 2, 2025

Spend a little time each day helping people while you still can…

It’s one of the best ways to ensure that when you need help, you’ll have people who not only can…

But want to and will.

Prioritizing Here Over There

Published on March 31, 2025

I have a new employee starting today.
It’s one of my friend’s son’s birthday today.
My aunt is moving into her new “forever” home today.
My co-worker is having an intense back surgery procedure today.
And while I was driving home today, I saw that my neighbor’s house caught fire and burned down. Literally four houses away from where I live.

For each of the above situations, there are things I can do to help out. Things I can do to show thoughtfulness and care. Things I can do to make a real difference in their day… maybe even longer than that.

And my bet is, that’s probably true for you, too. Maybe not to the same extent that it happened for me on this particular day… but there none-the-less. Heck… maybe even more so?

My point is… maybe you’re focusing too much on the grandiose or getting too distracted on screen impact… and not enough on the folks in your own neighborhoods and in real life (IRL). The time, energy, and effort invested IRL can have an exponential effect compared to the same invested into screens.

Making Sense… Easier.

Published on March 31, 2025

I made a very deliberate choice to publish these daily writings with no images.

It streamlines the process and challenges me to make my words the art.

But sometimes, you come across an image that’s so good, you start to question whether there is any possible way to explain the idea better with only words…

And the below image (link here if it’s not showing) felt like one of those ideas:

The power of writing things down. By Janis Ozolins / ozo.art

…This is what this daily writing practice is about.

…This is what having some kind of reflective / therapeutic practice is all about.

…This is what inner work is about.

It’s about taking everything that’s floating around nonsensically and non-linearly in our head—out of our head—and laying it all flat on paper, canvas, or screen… and making sense of it all and giving it some kind of linear understanding.

The people who don’t make time for reflective type inner work… experience a harder type of existence. Not because their existence is inherently harder… but because they haven’t done the smart work required to make it easier.

…Yet.

P.s. ICYMI you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week here.

Category: Archives